Debates of Oct. 18th, 2013

Ethics

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Minister of State (Democratic Reform)]

Mr. Speaker, our position on the Senate is clear. Not only must Senate expenses be made responsible through 12 tough new rules, not only must the Auditor General have access to all the information on those expenses and a wide-ranging investigation, but the Senate itself must be reformed. That is why the Prime Minister has asked the Supreme Court of Canada for a legal instruction manual on how we can reform the Senate by allowing Canadians to vote on who should represent them there and on term limits so that senators serve a reasonable period of time rather than until age 75.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians demand accountability in what happened in the PMO. We will not stop asking questions until we get real answers, not evasion.

Those same PMO security logs indicate that an unidentified third party joined Senator Gerstein and his PMO host at that meeting on February 12, 2013. Who was that other person? Was it the Prime Minister? If not, who was it?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Minister of State (Democratic Reform)]

Mr. Speaker, three questions in a row, and absolutely nothing about the middle class, nothing about consumers, nothing about taxpayers, and nothing about families. The Liberals are focused on everything but the well-being of Canadian middle-class families.

On this side of the House, we are delivering a plan that will make for more affordable consumer goods and a bigger market for our Canadian businesses so that we can create jobs, and of course, the climax of our economic agenda today is the Prime Minister's successful conclusion of a free trade agreement with the largest economy in the world.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we did not hear any answers to simple questions on the Wright-Duffy affair. I would like to ask a simple question. Has anybody in the PMO been contacted by the RCMP with respect to their investigation into the Wright-Duffy affair?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as we have said on a number of occasions, Mr. Wright handled this file. He has taken sole responsibility for it. We will continue to work with all authorities to make sure that we get to the bottom of this matter.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a press conference cannot make people forget about the fraud, the shenanigans and the crimes that took place, especially when we have no response from the one person at the centre of the scandal: the Prime Minister.

Has the RCMP asked the Prime Minister's Office to hand over one or more documents directly or indirectly related to the $90,000 cheque Nigel Wright gave to Mike Duffy?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, once again, as we have already said and as we said in the throne speech, the status quo is not an option. If the Senate cannot be reformed, we will shut it down.

In the meantime, we will continue to work with the authorities involved in this investigation.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, here are the facts.

In June, the Prime Minister said that Nigel Wright was the only one in his office who know about the Mike Duffy affair. However, the RCMP has since revealed that David van Hemmen, Benjamin Perrin and Chris Woodcock knew as well. Despite all of that, his parliament secretary had the nerve to claim yesterday that Mr. Wright acted alone.

I am giving the Conservatives an opportunity to set the record straight. Aside from these four individuals, who in the Prime Minister's Office knew about the $90,000 cheque?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, Nigel Wright has taken full responsibility on this. He acted on this file on his own and has taken sole responsibility. We will continue to work with authorities to make sure that we can get to the bottom of this, and we are co-operating in any way we are asked.

With respect to the Senate, we are going to continue to make some very important reforms in the Senate. We know, of course, that the NDP is flip-flopping on this. When they were trying to enter into a coalition agreement with the Liberals and the Bloc, they actually asked for six senators of their own. On the one hand, they want to get rid of the Senate, unless they can get their own members into the Senate. We will continue to make the real reforms Canadians have asked us to do with respect to the Senate.

Access to Information

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Information Commissioner pulls no punches in her report on access to information. She writes about failure and even says that “the integrity of the federal access to information program is at serious risk”. I repeat, “serious risk”.

At the very least, can the government tell us how many access to information employees were transferred to other tasks last year?

[Dan Albas, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board, CPC]

Mr. Speaker, in 2012-13, our government set a number of records for openness and transparency. This government processed a record number of access to information requests, released a record number of materials, and had an improved turnaround time. Our government processed nearly 54,000 access to information requests, which is a 27% increase over the previous year—over 10,000 more requests. The government also released a record number of materials, over six million pages released, an increase of nearly two million.

The numbers do not lie. Canadians are getting better and more access than ever before, thanks to this government.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yes, Conservatives have set a number of records, but none I would brag about.

The Conservatives committed to spend $50 million, they say, on access to information matters, but the Information Commissioner says that she does not know where the money was spent. She said: “My office has been cut. Some offices have been cut, certainly in their ATIP shops, and some departments have been cut to the point where they can't produce the documents”.

We are facing a crisis here. Can they tell us how much has actually been removed from ATIP budgets in the last two years?

[Dan Albas, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board, CPC]

Mr. Speaker, I reject the premise of the question. Again, the government processed a record number of access to information requests, released a record number of materials, and had improved turnaround times. Our government processed nearly 54,000 access to information requests, a 27% increase over the previous year. The government also released a record number of materials. Over six million pages were released, an increase of nearly two million.

We will continue to improve access to information for Canadians. We are getting it right on access to information, increasing that to Canadians.

Consumer Protection

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, for over seven years, the Conservatives have failed to act, or actually, voted down help for consumers. Families are being squeezed, and they are asking now why it is the government has failed to act against banks and credit card fees and why it has failed to act on airline passenger rights.

My question for the government is this: Are you afraid of the banks and the credit card companies? Are you afraid of the airlines? Why have you not helped protect consumers?

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member should know not to use the second person when addressing questions but to address comments to the Chair.

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian consumers deserve access to credit on fair and transparent terms. That is why we have taken action to protect Canadians using credit cards by banning unsolicited credit card cheques, requiring clear and simple information, providing timely advance notice of rates and fee changes, limiting anti-consumer business practices, and ensuring that prepaid cards never expire.

Our Conservative government believes that with better information, Canadian consumers can make informed decisions in their best interest, unlike the NDP, which voted against our consumer protection regulations and against our legislation to improve financial literacy.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives brag about helping consumers, yet it does not take much to satisfy them. Passengers will continue to wait on the tarmac without accountability or compensation from airlines. Merchants will continue to see their profit margins swallowed by credit card companies, and drivers will continue to get gouged at the pumps. Are the Conservatives just paying lip service to helping Canadian consumers?

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we heard the concerns of small business and introduced a code of conduct. The code has been welcomed by consumers and industry groups, especially small business. We continually monitor compliance, and we are now working with small business and consumers to ensure that both are heard. However, the NDP voted against the code and against supporting small business and consumers. Shame on them.

Food Safety

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this government's failure to take action on food safety is completely unacceptable. Despite repeated crises on its watch and despite the government's decision to quietly shift responsibility for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency away from the Minister of Agriculture, who was doing a terrible job, the throne speech contains absolutely nothing specific about food safety. There is barely a “we'll see”.

When will the government finally take this issue seriously?

[Eve Adams, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, CPC]

Mr. Speaker, the health and safety of our families is a priority for this Conservative government. Canada has one of the healthiest and safest food systems in the world, and we aim to keep it that way.

Bringing CFIA into the health portfolio family means that Canadians can be assured that not only will we insist on the safest food possible but we will also be focused on ensuring that Canadians are eating healthy food.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives are not serious about food safety. Over $56 million is being cut from the agency, and 300 staff have been let go. There have been over 50 recalls just this year. CFIA does not have the resources it needs to do its job of prevention and inspection work.

When will the new minister finally commit to giving the resources it needs to CFIA to protect Canadians?

[Eve Adams, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, CPC]

Mr. Speaker, since 2006, there has been a net increase of over 750 inspectors. There have been no cuts to front-line food inspectors.

The Speech from the Throne set out our commitment to start talking to and listening to Canadian parents about how to help them make healthy food choices for their families.

Ethics

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the chief of staff from the Prime Minister's Office cut a cheque to a senator for $90,000. We have been asking for the documents surrounding that whole cover-up, whatever it is that the Prime Minister knows and says he does not know. We have been calling for the documents. They have been saying, “We don't have any documents”. Then, over the summer, the RCMP, in court, said that there are hundreds of documents.

My question for the Prime Minister is this: When can Canadians expect to see a government that is going to be honest and bring forward the hundreds of documents surrounding this whole affair?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

The utter gall of having a Liberal talk about honesty in government, Mr. Speaker. This coming from a party that was thrown out on its butt for one of the largest scandals in the history of this country. Because it was so entitled to its entitlements, Canadians from across this country threw it out. Now they have a government that is the most open and honest government in the history of this country.

We just heard from the Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board how we are opening up access to information and opening government for all Canadians. We are going to continue to work hard to make sure that the Senate is reformed, even if the status-quo Liberals are going to do everything in their power to stop us from doing that. We will shine even a bigger light—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please.

The hon. member for Winnipeg North.